Designer Compares Diets of Armies in Different Countries

Italian designer Guilio Lacchetti studied cultural differences of countries based on examples of army’s field rations.

A new exhibition by Italian industrial designer Giulio Lacchetti, which shows differences between diets of soldiers from different countries opened last week in Milan. Lacchetti made his research based on 20 armies from around the world: New Zealand, Poland, USA, Russia, Slovenia, France, Ukraine and others.

The artist thinks that the Army’s field rations represent cultural differences between countries. For example, every American field ration contains peanut butter and bubble gum, whereas in Italy, it is pasta and minestrone, and in Thailand it’s rice and spice. Also, the way the food is packed can teach designers a lot: everything inside the box is organized in such a efficient way that able to fit in a small cardboard box.

“Even though field rations look synthetic, they’re sometimes better designed than what is usually called ‘design,’” says Lacchetti notes.